Advertisement
Published: November 25th 2014
Edit Blog Post
Today was the justification for this whole trip, it was Jason and Kanoko's wedding day.
After dressing the family walked to the wedding venue, not too far away, for a 13:50 start. Like most Japanese things there were many ellements to this celebration.
We initially assembled in a private waiting room with the groom's family where we were served a special wedding green tea and some snacks. The schedule of events was discussed so people were aware of their roles.
The two families lined up side by side, in order of importance, then followed by friends. In this fashion we proceeded to the shrine, where our order translated into our seating down the two side of the shrine. This was a formal traditional Shinto wedding. As a part of the proceedings the couple received numerous ceremonial tastes of sake, the groom read vows (or at least we think that's what he did as the ceremony was totally in Japanese.) Rings were then exchanged and the couple was formally married. The formal wedding party family members also then received ceremonial sake to sip three times. For the final part of the ceremony Jason introduced his family members to Kanoko's
family in Japanese and then Kanoko introduced her family to us in english.
The party was then ushered into another waiting area where the newly weds got to finally sit down for the first time in hours.
Kanoko's initial outfit was all white and consisted of many heavy layers. When she stood the outer gown was draped around her on the floor and to move she had to hold up the heavy fabric in her right hand. Kanoko had been had been doing this since 11am and by this time she was very hot and her arm was tired. Jason looked splendid in a traditional Japanese skirt and jacket. He too was very warm but his first task was to fan his new wife.
Next were the formal photos with the entire group in the photography room.
We were then ushered into a pre-reception area, where we could leave our formal wedding gift envolopes. We were provided with drinks and waited for all of 10 minutes before proceeding to the formal reception area.
This wedding venue was a well oiled machine, conducting as many as 36 weddings per day. There were a number of shrines
catering for both Shinto and Buddhist weddings as well as areas for non-religious weddings. It is the most popular wedding venue in Osaka. Throughout all proceedings Kanoko's 'dresser' hovered discretely nearby, always ready to slip in and make minor adjustments, no matter which outfit she was wearing.
The reception was punctuated by the delivery of a series of courses, speaches, presentations, cake cutting, a video and a musical recital. Throughout, two of their friends translated proceedings back and forth in japanese and english. There certainly was never a dull moment.
Twice during the reception Kanoko left to change into another outfit. The second outfit featured a bright red gown with colourful embroidery. Her third outfit was a western style adapted by Alli, Jason's mother, from Jason's grandmother's wedding gown.
For the final part of the reception Jason and Kanoko presented their parents with flowers and Jason gave the groom's speach. We feel honoured to have shared in this special day.
As we departed we were surprised to be presented with gifts from the couple. For the Japanese this included Australian items, and for the Australians it was Japanese items.
After a short break at our
hotel we headed of to the after party at a 'British' hotel for two hours of all you can eat and drink. We really did not need more food after the wonderful reception but as time wore on the food did help soak up the freely flowing alcohol.
It was at this gathering that Jason and Kanoko signed the formal wedding papers which they later delivered to the marriage registry office. Doing this before midnight meant it was exactly five years since they had first met.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.15s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 8; qc: 40; dbt: 0.0729s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb